The Griffins departed via two buses shortly after 9 a.m. Thursday en route to Syracuse to prepare for the Crunch and the franchise’s first visit to the Calder Cup Finals.

There’s no practice scheduled today. The Griffins played four games in five days, with the day off coming Monday following the return from the Sunday night game at Oklahoma City. Their scheduled game in Oklahoma City on Friday was postponed following a tornado in the area.

“I would tell you, I think the guys spent everything they had out there,” Blashill said after the game.

The team also had to deal with the emotional roller coaster of a Game 7 after failing to close out the Oklahoma City series at home Tuesday in Game 6.

“I think we just had to forget about (Tuesday) night,” forward Gustav Nyquist said. “We know how to be successful. We showed that down in Oklahoma when we took two in a row, so we said we’ll just do what we’ve been doing and said, ‘Why change that?’”

The Griffins are scheduled to practice 1 p.m. Friday at War Memorial in Syracuse.

Syracuse, meanwhile, has been idle since Saturday, following a 7-0 victory against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton to close the Eastern Conference finals series in five games. The Crunch, the No. 3 seed, have won 11 of 12 games in the postseason.

Games 1 and 2 will be in Syracuse – 7 p.m. Saturday and 6 p.m. Sunday before the series comes to Grand Rapids for the following three scheduled games – June 12, June 14 and June 15.